In 1932 Justice Brandeis famously wrote that a single state may “serve as a laboratory”—conducting experiments to be considered by the rest of the country. An analogous phenomenon is occurring at the federal courts of appeals today. Though part of the same middle tier of review within the federal judiciary, the thirteen courts of appeals are different from each other in critical ways, varying along key case management metrics and even norms. This panel will consider the extent of the variation and assess how the different experiments across appellate adjudication have fared and where more experimentation would be beneficial.
Business meeting at program conclusion.